Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween to all

From my visitors from across the pond, to those from down-under, those that celebrate in big style and those that sit in the dark hoping the doorbell won't ring!

Need to do pumpkin carving here today - we've been promised small visitors later :)

A No Boy Thursday

This post was meant to be uploaded last night but the internet gremlins had other ideas :(

Today was a virually boy free day :)  Now I love my 2 messy, untidy, permanently hungry boys but sometimes its great to be at home without them.  This morning they headed off on their bikes to their Scout hut to crush 2 huge skip bags of drink cans which are going off to be recycled (and then the pack gets the money).

Came home from there smelling of a mix of beer and sweet sugary drinks! So they were despatched to get washed & changed as their grandparents where due any minute to take them out to lunch - lucky devils.

Rather than sit at home being sad and have a lonely sandwich, MrVV & I headed off to Aldeburgh for fish & chips on the sea wall.  This F&C shop has a wonderful reputation and with the lovely weather yesterday there was a huge queue;

We parked up to eat on the seawall with its wonderful views in every direction;

The sea - calm as a mill pond yesterday

River Alde with its collection of sailing boats;

Once we'd finished eating we had a quick walk along the beach - I managed to collect some more lucky 'hag' stones for my ever increasing collection..

On the way home by the coast road I wanted to stop and take a picture of a sculpture on the beach that divides peoples opinions - however as it was a gorgeous day it was impossible to get a picture of just it, so here's one I've 'borrowed' from the internet ;)

BTW boys arrived home late afternoon, stuffed to the gills - both having polished off a huge meal with pudding.  Guess what by teatime they were hungry again!

The mid-week point

How's 1/2 term going for everyone?  So far so good  - lots of lie-ins and just relaxing here with a smattering of housework and homework mixed in.

This morning was spent trying to fill the ever-emptying cake & biscuit tins - a task that needs repeating rather to often sometimes. Fortunately this time I gained a small & willing helper - No2 son Will.

Here he is hard at work making ChocChip Muffins - something he can now do without any really help from me;

Please excuse the washing in the background - its just not drying outside at the moment - not enough breeze or hours of daylight!!

This afternoon the boys cleared off out on their bikes for a few hours - think they called in to visit a couple of my sisters and my grandparents.  Mr VV was out so I had the house to myself.  I settled down to do some more festive swap sewing when it all went rather dark - the power had gone off :(  I did the usual thing of checking fuses and even managed to locate a rather complex main switch in the garage but nothing worked :(

So instead of sitting here feeling sorry for myself and being in need of a cuppa, I hunted out the camping stove and kettle :)  Even dragged out my festive mug for the occasion.

About 1/2 an hour after I'd gone to all this trouble power was restored!

Enjoy the rest of the 1/2 term week folks.  Suppose I need to get organised and find a pumpkin to carve - need to buy one as the ones I tried to grow got eaten by slugs :( 

Cambridge Treats Revealed ;)

As I promised yesterday, I will show you what I treated myself to in Cambridge at the weekend.  Had to wait until this morning to take the pictures in decent light - had forgotten last night  how quickly it now gets dark. Its now 5pm and pitchblack outside.

Anyhow here's what I bought;

2 Belle & Boo & 1 cupcake postcard from Paperchase - could have bought more but ran out of cash!

Russian doll stickers from Accesorize, Glass bead necklace from White Stuff and last but by no means least a Christmas Cath tin from John Lewis (yes there are some close up pics to follow).

Front

Back - can you see Stanley & his ball?

I could have bought out the haberdashery section in John Lewis - so many things and loads of Cath. Instead I made a mental wish list and dropped lots of hints to little son who was with me!

Hope everyone is enjoying 1/2 term? We are :)

A weekend away :)

As I hinted on Friday we did do something special this weekend - we spent it in Cambridge and the boys had their first taste of staying in a hotel. Ok so the hotel was a Premier Inn but nevertheless the boys were impressed and on their best behaviour :)

The weather was a bit mixed and at times on Saturday we had to head indoors to avoid the showers - oddly this meant that for once MrVV and the boys didn't complain too much about shopping ;)  Certainly one shop in particular was treated by the boys as an extention to their break and they happily spent quite a lot of time in there - this was the Apple Store where they got to have their technology fix, playing with Iphones, Ipod Touches and Macbooks;

On both days we managed plenty of walking, stopping to watch people punting and rowing on the Cam.

As you can see the weather on Saturday ^^^ was not as sunny as that of Sunday vvv

We didn't go punting - I have a real fear of water and can not be persuaded to go in a boat of any size :( 

One of the reasons we headed to Cambridge was to give big son (who starts his GCSEs next year) a feel for the place and hopefully it will inspire him to work hard at school and maybe even one day gain a place at university there.  With that in mind we went for a look around Kings College and its chapel.  It is certainly a place that inspires and hopefully some of its magic rubs off on both boys.

Last but not least for tonight, its not often these days that anything makes big son look small - he's towered over me for a while now.  However this amazing doorway in Kings just dwarfed him and his little brother!

Oh, yes I know you can see shopping bags in several of the pictures ;)  We did indeed have some light retail therapy, much of it was essential new items for growing boys and presents that will end up in stockings at Christmas (so I can't show you those).  However one or two items were bought for me and I'll show you those tomorrow ;)

So very Cath :)

Good evening

Happy half-term - the boys started yesterday and mine started today :)  I've now 10 work free days - time to spend with the boys, time to spend on my sewing and time to really knuckle down and do some more work for college.

After surviving a training day at work - I came home via the town as I needed to collect something from the shops.  My eyes were drawn to the little clothes shop we have in town and I couldn't believe my eyes - I was drawn inside and to my surprise not only was the item I'd spied as lovely as I hoped but they had one in my size and it fitted perfectly......

I've read on so many blogs about the love for this item in the latest Ck brochure but the price has been so off putting.

This is what I saw and bought for just a fraction of the price;

As luck would have it, as part of the wardrobe restock I treated myself to a couple of t-shirts from Joules which will go under this perfectly;

Sorry those pics are tiny! But they give you an idea of the colours.

Have great plans for this weekend which I'll tell you all about on Monday - camera battery is charged and I know there will be plenty of photo & blogging opportunities ;)

Have a lovely weekend - is shaping up here to be a crisp proper autumn one - ideal for wearing new dresses and taking plenty of walks and spending time together as a family.

Show us your Cath Day :)

Evening - have been to some fab parties this evening - such pretty things in such lovely houses. 

As ever I am disorganised - blame work, blame family and blame there only being 24 hours in a day!

So from the comfort of my armchair whilst having a cuppa and a ginger biscuit (Floss I am addicted to them - I blame you for making my clothes shrink ;) - here's a small selection of my Cath.

The first Cath mug - my favourite - tea always tastes better out of bone china I think.

A small selection of Cath bags and Cath inspired bag holders and shopping bags.

Some light reading - all Cath!

Lets tip out my messenger bag contents - Cath junk holder!, purse, camera case and even the lip balm is Cath.

Addicted to Cath - me - yup!